We came to Crystal Bay for one reason - one reason alone - to see an ocean sunfish, Mola mola. It was out of season for them but one had been spotted 2 days earlier so we were hopefull of seeing one ourselves.

We jumped into the water from the boat and the water temperature was around 28°C. We headed along the reef to the point where the sunfish come in. As we swam the water temperature dropped: 26, 25, 24, 23 and finally 22°C. It was very cold in a 3mm suit. As we reached the sunfish spot we saw two divers already there and then the sunfish appeared like out of nowhere. Unfortunately, the two divers spooked the sunfish and it was gone just as quickly as it appeared. We then turned and swam back to the boat. While it was only a brief encounter it was a first for me.

Buddy

Landung

Seas

Strong current

Visibility

20-30 metres

Duration

39 minutes

Maximum depth

24.4 m

Average depth

14.4 m

Water temperature

21.6°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Video

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D7000

Lens

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR +5 diopter

Housing

Ikelite 6801.70

Lens port

Ikelite 6" Dome Port 5503.50

Strobe

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161

Photographs

Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.